DAVID HOLDSWORTH: I respect Bale's loyalty, but he has to realise his potential

Gareth Bale needs to have a serious look at himself and his ambitions over the next few months.

If he wants to put trophies in his cabinet and medals around his neck then he's got two things standing in his way, one is Tottenham Hotspur, the other is that he is Welsh.

Now, I'm not doing either Spurs or Wales down, but at the moment he is not on the biggest stage.

While his loyalty to Tottenham is commendable he is in danger of not fulfilling his potential.

Some players have been fine with that. You only have to look at Alan Shearer, he won one title with Blackburn, but was happy plying his trade for his home town club in Newcastle United.

He had a great international career and while missing out on gongs in it he became a legendary figure for England.

But Bale's nationality is not going to get him far.

Wales have only picked up one win in their World Cup qualifying campaign so far and I'm struggling to imagine them reaching a major tournament, sadly.

As for Tottenham while they have broken into those top four spot, they still cannot put the quality of players around Bale to really push for titles.

Bale is reaching his peak and if he wants to make the most of it a move to a more ambitious club is only logical.

In England there is only one, and that is Manchester United. Ryan Giggs cannot go on forever and there have been a lot of questions about the left-hand side of United's team this season.

He would be exceptional for them and I cannot begin to imagine the devastation he, Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney could do to a defence.

I could easily see Bale slotting in there, and furthermore the ethos of the club would be perfect for him.

Manchester United may have some big profile players, but nobody is bigger than the club and he would be able to get on with his game without any of the circus that might come with another top end club.

One other option would be a move abroad and, outside of Spain, I would not be surprised if someone like Pep Guardiola could lure him to Bayern Munich in the summer.

Bayern are a club with the same ethos as Manchester United and that was said to be one of the reasons why Guardiola made the move to Bavaria. They have a cracking pedigree in Europe and are one of the most influential teams around.

Guardiola himself is a big draw, he is already apparently trying to lure the highly-rated Robert Lewandowski from Borussia Dortmund and if he could add Bale to that mix it would be immense.

Whatever Bale decides to do he needs to think about what talent he has and what he can achieve, because there are some great options out there for him.

3 comments

Too much hype surrounding him at the moment. Yes he is a very good player, but not yet world class. If he was to leave for someone like Real Madrid, he may well go the same way as many before him, into oblivion and not be heard of again, only time will tell.

Ok HoskSpur - your comments are true. But will he win any major competitions staying sat Spurs?
There is nor right and no wrong here. LeTissier stayed loyal, the big fish. That was not ambitious at all. Mayeb coudl ahve played for England more if he had moved and proved himself.
People make the mistake of thinking the word un-ambitious isa BAD thing. It just means that your, well, un-ambitious. It doesn't mean un-happy, or un-successful or show a lack of desire at all. LeTissier had a fantastic career, and did what he wanted to do. Fair play to hime and to Shearer.

The vile lust for money in football is a sickness that seems to have spread to normally decent people's brains. Since when was ANY club in this country not "ambitious"? A lot of nonsense has been written about Bale and the fact that he has to move because he is a good player. I seem to remember Harry Redknapp trying to facilitate a move for Bale - FROM Spurs to Nottingham Forest (that'll be the "unambitious" two times European Champions) a few years back, because Redknapp didn't rate him. Of course Spurs are an ambitious club; that's why Bale moved there. But ambition isn't really the right word here is it? "Obscenely rich" are the words you meant to use. And Spurs are only the 12th richest club in Europe, dropping from 10th a couple of years ago, so clearly not rich enough (well, they are not propped up by sovereign funds belonging to millions of oppressed people). Bale is the biggest fish in a reasonable sized pool; he will be playing in the Champions League for Spurs next season and the last time they were in that competition they were fantastic and might well have gone past Real Madrid were it not for their clown of a goalkeeper, whom they have now replaced with one of the best goalkeepers in the world (unambitious or what?). And Gareth Bale could be ending this season as player of the year with a Europa Cup winners medal. For a quiet lad, who has a wife and child, lives in one of the world's major capital citys and can get back to his extended family in Cardiff within three hours, I think that might just be enough (well, that and a huge salary increase). But if it isn't, then bear in mind that he is on a 6 year contract at Spurs, so there's only two clubs in the world who can afford to buy him: Manchester City and Real Madrid.